The 2018 Asper Award for Global Entrepreneurship

The Asper Award for Global Entrepreneurship is given annually to a person who best exemplifies the values of entrepreneurial spirit and independent thinking at Brandeis IBS while achieving outstanding success in the global marketplace through creative marketing and business strategies.

Brandeis University recently celebrated two Israeli entrepreneurs who scaled their global businesses in Massachusetts: Udi Mokady, CEO of CyberArk, and Lior Div, CEO of Cybereason.

The award program held on April 10, 2018 included a video welcome from Ben Gurion University President Rivka Carmi, Associate Professor Anna Scherbina, currently on leave with the President's Council of Economic Advisers, and Alex Goldstein, CEO of 90West, shared current research on the economic impact of cybersecurity and on Israeli cybersecurity companies in Massachusetts.

Featured Speakers

Speaker Bios

Udi Mokady

Mokady is Chairman, CEO, and Co-founder of CyberArk. He has served as CyberArk's chief strategist and visionary, overseeing global expansion, management, execution and corporate development. CyberArk is a trusted security partner to more than 3,650 global businesses, including more than 50% of the Fortune 100. Prior to CyberArk, Udi served as the general counsel at Tadiran Spectralink, a producer of secure wireless communications systems. A veteran of a military Intelligence unit, Udi holds a degrees from Hebrew University and Boston University.

Lior Div

Div is CEO and Co-founder and CEO of Cybereason, one of the fastest growing cybersecurity companies in the world. Lior served in Unit 8200, the Israeli army's elite cyber intelligence unit, where he was a cyber commander carrying out some of the largest cyber offensive campaigns in history against nations and cybercrime groups. He received the Medal of Honor, the highest honor bestowed upon Unit 8200 members. Under Lior's leadership, Cybereason tripled its size in the past twelve months, now employing more than 350 employees worldwide.

Anne Mostue

Mostue is a reporter and anchor for Bloomberg Television and Radio in Boston. Previously, she was an on-air reporter/producer for WGBH, the NPR and PBS station airing throughout New England. She reported for All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, Marketplace and the BBC. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and Boston University.

Rivka Carmi

Carmi is President of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the first woman to serve as president of an Israeli university. She graduated from Hadassah Medical School of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Professor Carmi was the first woman in Israel to be elected Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at BGU. She served as Acting Director of the nascent National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev. In 2010, she became the first woman to chair Israel's Committee of University Heads. In 2015, Carmi was declared an honorary Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in the name of Queen Elizabeth II. She will join us by video.

Alex Goldstein ’06

Goldstein is founder and CEO of the strategic communications firm 90 West. He is the former spokesman for Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and an advisor to many fast-growing Israeli companies in the Boston area. Alex is a graduate of Brandeis University. Alex will present the results of a joint study by 90 West and Brandeis IBS evaluating the impact of Israeli cybersecurity companies in Massachusetts.

Anna Scherbina

Scherbina is an associate professor of finance at Brandeis International Business School. She is currently serving as a senior economist at the Council of Economic Advisers in the White House. In that role, she was responsible for the chapter on cybersecurity in the 2018 Economic Report of the President. Prior to Brandeis, Anna was on the faculty at UC Davis and the Harvard Business School. She also worked at the Federal Reserve Board and the International Monetary Fund. Anna was born in Ukraine and is a graduate of Northwestern University.

Ben Gomes-Casseres ‘76

Gomes-Casseres is a professor of strategy at Brandeis International Business School, where he directs the Asper Center for Global Entrepreneurship and the MBA Program. His expertise is in strategic partnerships, M&A, and ecosystems. Prior to Brandeis, he was an economist at the World Bank and on the faculty at the Harvard Business School. Born in Curacao, Ben is a graduate of Brandeis, Princeton, and Harvard.

About the Asper Center for Global Entrepreneurship

The Asper Center for Global Entrepreneurship serves as Brandeis IBSâ€™ platform to examine and understand the key trends affecting entrepreneurship across cultures and borders. It provides a diverse range of learning experiences through courses, seminars and conferences, internships, business plan competitions, field visits, and meetings with global entrepreneurs.